5 takeaways: Starting five star for CSU as Rams move to 5-0

Colorado State men’s basketball is 5-0 following a comfortable 86-74 victory over Boston College on Wednesday.

Continuing what’s been a really strong start for the offense, the 86-point performance in Kansas City is CSU’s fifth straight game with 80 or more points. And although it’s only a two-game sample, the Rams have averaged 84.5 points away from Moby Arena, so their game has traveled with them in the early stages of the season. 

Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s win and the five-game winning streak. 

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CSU dished out 21 assists on 35 made field goals in Wednesday’s win over Boston College. So far this season the Rams are averaging 23 assists per game and they have recorded assists on 114-of-158 total field goals (72 percent). 

It’s fair to point out that recording 37 assists in the win over Wright State skews the averages a little bit at this stage of the season. But the lowest amount of assists the Rams have had as a team was 19 against Louisiana Tech. So in a decent sample size to begin the year, we’ve now seen the offense moving the ball really well on a nightly basis. 

Valuing possessions 

With as much ball movement as we see with CSU, you’d expect the guys to turn the ball over more than they have to begin the season. The Rams did have a season-high 14 turnovers against Boston College, but the season average is about 11 per game at the moment. 

Obviously teams like Creighton, Colorado, Washington and Saint Mary’s will present tougher defensive challenges than what the Rams have had to deal with over these first five games. But considering how many new pieces CSU has in the rotation, it’s been encouraging to see the Rams not only moving the ball well, but also valuing possessions and not beating themselves. 

Starting five is solidified

CSU is much deeper than they were a year ago. There are about 11 guys that could see the floor for Mountain West teams. 

Knowing how much deeper the roster is, one of the things I was interested to see was who ultimately began the year as a starter, and whether or not we’d see any tweeks along the way. 

Depending on health and the occasional tinkering of the lineup for a unique matchup, we may see a different group at some point this season. It feels pretty safe to say the starting five has solidified itself though. 

Four of five starters averaged double-digit figures going into Wednesday’s win over Boston College. And Josiah Strong, the one starter who was averaging less than 10 points per game coming in, has now recorded his two highest scoring performances of his CSU career in back-to-back games. After finishing with 10 points against Kansas City, Strong had 15 points on 86 percent shooting against Boston College. 

Joining Strong in the fun, CSU’s other four starters all scored at least 14 points apiece in this one. Leading the group, Isaiah Stevens had 18 points and a team-high eight assists in the 12-point victory. 

It all starts on defense 

While the offensive firepower is exciting, as any coach will tell you, a team will only go as far as their defense takes them. 

The Rams are giving up just 69.8 points per game through the first five, which is a really solid start, especially with the way CSU can put points on the board in a hurry. 

Whether it be off of forced misses or creating turnovers, the more they can create chances for themselves in transition, the tougher CSU becomes to contain. The Rams are already a handful in their halfcourt sets with how many ways they can attack you. But when they also can get out in transition, it becomes really overwhelming for opposing defenses. 

Seeing CSU record a season-high 11 steals against Boston College was definitely encouraging. As was CSU’s ability to turn 16 BC turnovers into 21 points the other way. The Rams are not going to lose very often if they finish +10 in fastbreak points, +14 in the paint and they also out-shoot the other side. CSU did a good job of finishing possessions on the glass, too. The Rams out-rebounded the Eagles 30-24 in the win. 

It’s just business 

One of the biggest things that has stood out about this veteran group is how composed they play the game. 

Guys don’t go out there and try to do too much. There are very rarely bad shots and basically zero instances of “hero ball”. Honestly, this crew looks like they have been playing together for years. Everybody just goes out and fulfills their role. 

This team is damn talented and I fully expect them to be in the Mountain West championship race, as well as the NCAA Tournament mix. Seeing how composed everybody has been has only validated that belief. 

Next Up

CSU will have its toughest test of the non-conference slate, potentially even the regular season, with No. 8 Creighton on Thursday. 

The Blue Jays dominated Loyola-Chicago in their 88-65 victory Wednesday afternoon. It will be fun to see if the Rams can push them more in a Thanksgiving showdown on national TV.